1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a building element in plate shape, in particular a floor covering panel, which, apart from a mineral carrier plate or a WPC-containing carrier plate, comprises a wear layer on the upper surface as well as, preferably, a levelling layer on the lower surface, as well as to a floor covering formed by using said building elements, and to a method for their arrangement.
2. Related Art
In the field of floor coverings, often laminate floor coverings with mechanical locking means, so-called click systems, are applied, which, in a simple manner, allow the positive-locking connection of adjacent panels in order to obtain a seamless and stable covering plane. Constructions of this kind are known, for example, by DE 297 10 175 U1 or are also known by DE 201 20 704 U1 or WO 98/58142 A1.
Usually, such floor coverings are composed of three different material layers. Therein, the center layer, which mostly consists of high density wood fiber boards (HDF), has the purpose of permanently carrying the decorative surface, which mostly consists of impregnated decor papers. Moreover, the center layer comprises a modified tongue and groove profile, which allows locking adjacent panels together in a positive fit by snapping on or turning in.
To all known systems of this kind, it is inherent in the system that the respective opposite sides within a panel have very different edge shapes in order to allow a respective positive fit with the adjacent panel. These profiles, which respectively engage form-fittingly into the adjacent panels and which overlap in a staggering manner, however, show the disadvantage that single panels cannot be removed in a damage-free way, for example, for inspection purposes of the subfloor or a hollow floor situated underneath.
A further disadvantage of the above-described snap-on floor coverings with high-density wood fiber boards is the tendency thereof to take up water, in liquid as well as in vapor condition, and to grow in thickness as well as in length and width. Due to these partly high alterations in volume and length/width, floor coverings of the mentioned kind may undergo significant damage, with the consequence of having to exchange the whole floor covering.
Even with a proper use of the floor coverings with standard constructional temperature and humidity variations, a restriction to partial surfaces of approximately 40-60 m2 per single surface is necessary, including expansion joints arranged there between, which allow a damage-free shrinking and expanding of the partial surfaces in mutual respect.
In DE 10 2005 017 392 A1 or in DE 20 2015 100 159 U1, a floor panel is mentioned, which also comprises a mineral carrier layer, as well as a wear layer on the upper side and a counter layer on the lower side, and which is form-fittingly interconnected by means of mechanical coupling means.